Notre Dame and Louisville will team up for the ACC to take on Michigan State and IU for the Big Ten in a one-day meet Saturday.
“The hardest part about early outdoor season is that we have such an optimistic view,” IU Coach Ron Helmer said. “We expect everyone to take that next step and do great things, but that obviously doesn’t always ?happen.”
Helmer’s optimistic view is not an unwarranted response considering the Hoosiers already have 19 times and marks within the top five in Big Ten competition this season.
Of those 19 performances, three are the best in their respective events.
Senior Evan Esselink owns the top performance in the men’s 10K with a run of 28:55.98, junior decathlete Stephen Keller has the best point total in the Big Ten with his personal record of 7,149 and junior pole vaulter Sophie Gutermuth leads the Big Ten with her vault of 4.35 meters.
Freshman high jumper Paul Galas is another standout athlete who owns a top-five performance in the ?Big Ten.
He claimed the fourth-highest Big Ten jump at the Stanford Invitational with a height of 2.06 meters, edging out his teammate Keller by a quarter of an inch.
“I didn’t get what I wanted,” Galas said. “I attempted my PR though, and it was something I can build off of, so I’m pretty happy about it.”
Galas set his personal record of 2.11 meters during the indoor season at the Gladstein Invitational, where he claimed his first collegiate victory and etched his name onto the IU Big Ten roster.
At the Big Ten Indoor Championships, he earned one point for the Hoosiers by finishing eighth in the high jump with a clearance of 2.03 meters.
“I definitely want to qualify for the national regional meet this season,” Galas said. “I also want to score multiple points for the team at Big Tens, instead of just one, like at indoors.”
Another impressive Hoosier performance at the Stanford Invitational was from sophomore Taylor Wiley, who finished as the top IU 800-meter competitor and took home third place in a time of 2:11.51.
She also ran the third leg of the women’s 1600-meter relay, which placed eighth at the Invitational with a time of 3:50.03.
“The competition was definitely high-level,” Wiley said. “It felt good to be up there. I wish I could have finished as well as I took it out, but each race has given me more confidence, especially coming into my junior year, academically.”
Wiley has continued to improve next to the other women’s middle distance runners such as sophomore Kellie Davis, freshman Kendall Wiles and other young athletes on the IU roster.
Youth is not an uncommon theme on the IU roster, as 21 of IU’s 36 top times and marks are owned by ?underclassmen.
“The first names I think of when I think about the youth on the team are Jill Whitman on the women’s side and Daniel Kuhn for the men,” Wiley said. “As true freshmen, they put pride in wearing the IU jersey, and it really inspires me because they are going out and making names for themselves just like the other athletes.”
All athletes, young and old, will be competing in smaller fields this weekend, as only four teams will compete at the ACC vs. Big Ten Challenge compared to the usual 20-plus that compete in invitational meets.
“These interconference meets feel like Big Tens to me,” Wiley said. “The pressure is there, and they feel more familiar than invitational meets. My goal is to perform well in the Big Ten Championships, so I always like to perform well in these meets.”
